


Home Sweet Home?

by jujitsuelf



Category: The Losers (2010), The Losers (Comic), The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: Prompt Fill, Shifter AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 04:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/948850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujitsuelf/pseuds/jujitsuelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt fill for - The Losers - Cougar/Jensen - There is a distinctive scent to blood</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Sweet Home?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer – All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended
> 
> ***
> 
> This turned out longer and less slashy than I intended. Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.
> 
> Hopefully nobody will mind. I don't think there should be any issues with triggers but if you have a problem with Shifters being owned and sold at auction, look away now.

“There is a distinctive scent to blood,” the auctioneer was saying, “we humans are capable of smelling it but sadly our nasal virtues do not extend to tracking it over long distances. With a Shifter at your disposal, however, that problem simply vanishes...”

Cougar yawned and looked away from the sea of eager faces before him. Most had their eyes fixed on the man up on the podium, with his powdered hair and made-up face. He’d heard it all before, the spiel about how until you own a Shifter, you never realize just how useful they can be. He rolled his eyes. Yeah, right. Useful to the military and to people who like to kill other people. Why else would someone buy a shifter capable of tracking blood as surely as a shark tracking a wounded seal?

Granted Shifters had other skills too, enhanced sight and hearing, sometimes they were stronger than normal, more gifted brain-wise, sometimes simply good in the bedroom. He’d never understood why a human would want to sleep with something which could turn into an animal at will, but hey, who was he to argue about what Shifters were used for? He was only a cat and a wild one at that. Which was probably why he found himself at auction yet again and not already ensconced in a cozy home with a ready supply of food and things to occupy his mind.

He licked at a paw and stared out impassively at the crowd. A couple of people looked back, he dismissed them as potential buyers when he heard their heartrates speed up as their eyes met his. He smirked, even as a cat he could smirk, it was a skill he’d perfected over the years. Only somebody with a special core of iron could look into his golden killer’s eyes and not feel a certain thrill of fear. So far he hadn’t met anyone with that core, so he was still ownerless and adrift.  
  
Business was brisk, a few cats were sold, a couple of wolves went for good prices. The auctioneer was beaming when it came to Cougar’s turn. His smile faltered a tiny amount as he read out, “And our next lot, number 314. A very special animal, as gifted as any I’ve ever seen. Excellent eyesight and hearing, uncanny tracking abilities. As a human he is an excellent shot, very few have ever beaten him on the range. He is slight of frame but don’t let that put you off, he’s as strong as any of the mastiffs we’ve seen sold today.”

Cougar entertained himself with daydreams of leaping onto the podium and ripping the man’s perfumed throat out. Of course he couldn’t. Shifters were treated with a great deal of suspicion, at auction they were kept locked up at all times and the collars around their necks would deliver fifty thousand volts of electricity at the flick of a switch. Cougar wanted to kill the fop but he didn’t want to die in the process, angry he might be, suicidal he wasn’t.

Nobody seemed interested in him. Obviously word had gotten around that he wasn’t the easiest of Shifters to control. It didn’t come as a surprise to him, he’d been shuttled back and forth between the auction house and the barracks every month for three years. Cougar was just resigning himself to another trip back to his bare cell in the solitary block, since the last fight, when he’d put three other shifters in the medical center he’d been in solitary all the time, when a clear voice spoke up from the back of the room.

“Ten thousand dollars.”

The auctioneer boggled at the speaker and everyone twisted round on their plush chairs to try to catch a glimpse of him.

“Do you plan to accept my bid or not?” the man asked, a bite to his tone.

A faint thrill of excitement trickled down Cougar’s spine, making his hackles stand up. He stared at the young man who’d spoken. With his enhanced eyesight, he could make out every detail of the guy’s face. Blond hair, neat goatee beard, round, slightly absurd glasses and very blue eyes. Eyes which flickered between him and the auctioneer.

“Of course,” the fool on the podium blustered. “Um, any other bids?”

The crowd seemed to be struck dumb with shock that anyone would be fool enough to want Cougar.

“It would seem I’m the only bidder,” the blond man said, a smile twisting his lips. “I assume you won’t make me wait while you try to drum up interest in your most difficult lot? If anyone wanted him, they’d have bid by now.”

“Yes, yes, indeed,” the auctioneer said, clearly getting more flustered by the minute.

Cougar sat back on his haunches and watched the man shuffle his papers and try to decide what his bosses would like him to do. Ten thousand wasn’t really very much for a Shifter of Cougar’s abilities but as the blond man had said, people didn’t want him. Was it better to be rid him, even at a lower price than was preferable?

“Sold,” the auctioneer said and there was a certain note of relief in his voice. “If you’d care to make your way to the clerks, sir, they will take you through the technicalities of your purchase.”

The young man nodded and strode through the seated crowd to the row of book-worms at the edge of the room. Silence reigned for a moment, then the auctioneer regained his composure and moved on to the next lot.

Cougar sat very still, scenting the air and trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. He’d been bought. Holy hell. He wasn’t an orphan anymore. He had a home. Well, an owner, which was probably as good as having a home. Should he be happy or wary? The cat in him curled up on itself and carefully watched the blond man, anxious lest it all be a trick. The human side of him noticed that the guy had a nice ass.

A handler came up unlock Cougar’s cage a few minutes later. The ubiquitous taser was in his hand, but Cougar knew this man and had no desire to kill him.

“Change, Cougs,” the handler said. “Let your new owner see you.”

Stretching and yawning and taking an insolently long time about it, Cougar climbed up onto all four paws, then dropped his head and concentrated on shifting. Bone grated and slid against bone, setting his teeth on edge as it always did. His ears shortened and his senses dulled a tiny amount. Claws became fingers and toes and a minute later he was crouching in the cage, a full grown, if very naked, man.

“Here,” the handler threw him a t-shirt and jeans. “Get dressed and try to be nice.”

“I’m always nice,” Cougar grinned, aware that his human smiles were as predatory as his feline ones.

The handler snorted and chuckled.

“Are you going to take all day about getting ready? You’re not some kind of prima donna Shifter, are you?

Cougar’s head jerked up as the blond man’s voice reached his ears. With as much dignity as he could muster, he stepped out of the cage and straightened up. Looking his new owner in the eye, he raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, not a prima donna,” the blond man had the good grace to grin and look a little abashed. “Um, I don’t know how this works so I guess we’d better get out of here.”

“You need this,” the handler said quickly, holding out a small black box. “Hit that button and he’ll get an electric shock that’ll certainly knock him out and might possibly kill him.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Blondie frowned, puzzled.

“Well, you know, if he gets out of hand,” the handler explained.

Blondie grinned, his eyes shining dangerously. “He won’t.”

“Take it anyway,” the handler said, pressing the box into Blondie’s hand. “Just in case.”

“Fine,” Blondie said, shoving it into his pocket. Cougar winced at the thought of the thing which could fry his brain being handled in such a cavalier fashion.

“Come on,” Blondie said, looking right into Cougar’s eyes, “let’s go.”

With a last look at the handler, Cougar followed his new master out of the auction house. When he stepped out of the main doors, he stopped and sniffed at the air for a moment. Was it just his imagination or did it smell sweeter than before?

“This way,” Blondie called, striding toward a pretty little Corvette. “Hop in.”

Cougar did as he was told. Until he was made aware of what his new owner’s rules and regs were, it seemed prudent to be the perfect, well trained Shifter. Just in case Blondie decided to take advantage of the seven day cooling off period the auction house employed.

“You okay? You hungry?” Blondie asked as they pulled out into traffic.

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” Cougar replied carefully.

Blondie nodded and hummed along with the terrible techno-pop which was blasting from the radio. “I’m Jensen, by the way. Sorry, probably should have told you that to begin with. You’re Cougar, right?”

Cougar nodded.

“You been owned before?”

“Once.”

“Went wrong, huh?” Jensen sounded sympathetic.

Cougar shrugged, “They decided they didn’t like me.”

Jensen’s eyes slid over him, a half-smile on his face. “What’s not to like?”

A smile tugged at Cougar’s own mouth but he had no idea how to reply, so kept quiet.

“You might as well get some rest,” Jensen said. “Got a long drive ahead of us. I’ll wake you when we get there. You need bathroom breaks?”

“I’m still human,” Cougar said before he could stop himself. “An abnormally large bladder isn’t a Shifter gift.”

“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” Jensen laughed. “Sorry, dumb question.”

For a long time the only noise in the car was the music. Cougar caught himself nodding a few times but snapped awake instantly. Wherever he was going, he wanted to be able to see it before he got there. After four hours and a bathroom stop, Jensen pulled off the main highway and crept along a rutted track.

“I so need a different car,” he muttered. “Maybe I’ll get a Land Cruiser or something. Oh, a Hummer, that’d be awesome, don’t you think? Canary yellow. Oh yeah, I’m buying one of those babies as soon as I get near the internet.”

Cougar didn’t comment. He didn’t care about cars, he was far more concerned with where he was and what was going to happen to him.

Eventually, Jensen stopped the car in front of a comfortable looking farmhouse.

“Here ya go, home sweet home.”

He hopped out and led the way up to the front door. “The rest of the guys are here, they’ve been dying to meet you since I told them about you. Now, Clay’s okay, Pooch is great and Roque is a little prickly. For now just stick to ‘yes, sir’, ‘no, sir’ and you’ll be fine. Okay?”

Cougar thought uncomfortably of the slim black box in Jensen’s pocket and nodded.

Pushing the door open, Jensen yelled, “Honey, I’m home and I bought goodies!”

“Hey, bro,” a shaven-headed man strolled into the hallway. He glanced at Cougar. “Nice one. He a cat?”

“Yep,” Jensen rocked on his heels, radiating pride. “Awesome one, too. Where’s Clay?”

“Right here,” a gravelly voice on the stairs made Cougar look up. Steady dark eyes bored into his. In a show of deference he didn’t really feel, Cougar looked away and down at the floor.

“I hope you’re right about this one, Jensen,” Clay said. “You got his switch?”

“Yeah,” Jensen patted his pocket. “But we won’t need it, right, Cougs? You don’t want to kill us, do you?”

Right then the cat in Cougar wanted to kill them all and run as fast and as far as it could, searching for somewhere to hide. But the man in him was curious as to what was going on. He shook his head, feeling the collar move as he did. “No, sir.”

“See?” Jensen grinned. “It’s gonna be great.”

“Okay,” Clay said, walking past Cougar toward the end of the hall. “But if he screws up, it’s your neck on the line, Jensen.”

“So what’s new?” Jensen asked acidly. He turned to Cougar. “We’re kind of private contractors, you see. If people want things done which are slightly outside the parameters of the law, they come to us. We’re not the most scrupulous of men, if you know what I mean.”

“Mercenaries?” Cougar asked quietly.

“Pretty much,” Jensen admitted. “Although I always prefer the phrase ‘soldiers of fortune’.”

“And you need me because..?” Cougar raised his eyebrows again.

“Because some jobs need more stealth and speed than any human has,” Clay replied, poking his head back around the doorway at the end of the hall. “Now get in here and meet Roque.”

As Cougar walked further into the house, Jensen cast another smile at him. Pooch nodded amicably. A strange feeling crept over him. Almost like he’d come home? Or at least found somewhere with people nearly as crazy as him. For the first time in his life, he almost felt like he fitted in. Maybe being a Shifter could be fun after all.


End file.
